Bringer of Spring
by Blossomwitch
Summary: When Kurapika threatens to sink into some painful memories, Leorio decides irreverence is the cure. Mischief ensues. Eventual LeorioXKurapika and GonXKillua.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: First stab at HxH fanfic, and also fluffier than I normally write, so I'm particularly soliciting any feedback you have for this one. There will be two sections to this story, and the second section is chock full of shounen ai, so you bave been warned.  
_

Part One

'What a great day to be with old friends.'

Nobody said it; it was just the mood that wrapped around their group as they strolled through the city, relaxed and aimless for once, no one having come here for any purpose but to see the other three. What a beautiful day--what good company--what a terrific time I'm having. Nobody had to say it out loud.

There was a level of comfort between them that was rare to find; but it had been four years now, since they had all met, and even if they hadn't been together for that whole length of time it was still long enough to inspire ease with one other. They did their best to meet up at least twice a year, all four together, and this week had proved a perfect time for it. Gon and Killua were between adventures, Leorio had graduated from one school and not yet started the next, and Kurapika seemed to be in a lull in his ongoing battle with the Ryodan. A long and disgustingly cold winter had just finally broken, and when the idea came up each of them had been keen to flock to this city and spend some time together.

It was late afternoon, and they were walking rather aimlessly, casually sightseeing. Gon and Killua were eating enormous ice cream cones--four years having made no improvement on either of their attitudes towards sweets--and Kurapika and Leorio were walking a few steps behind them to avoid the sticky splatters that usually accompanied Killua's enthusiastic approach to ice cream. So neither Gon nor Killua noticed that they had lost someone until Leorio said curiously, "Kurapika? Why'd you stop?"

The younger two turned around to see Leorio standing a few feet behind them, looking at Kurapika who was a few more feet behind and staring at something on the ground. "Kurahpisha?" Gon queried as best he could with his mouth full of ice cream.

Kurapika didn't look at any of them. He moved slightly off the road and dropped to his knees, touching a flower that was growing in an untended patch of land. His face was incredulous, surprised in a good way--but then as he gently stroked one of the petals, the joy faded from his face and was replaced with an unreadable expression.

Leorio walked back a few feet to crouch next to him and studied the flower. "Eh? What is it?"

"This flower--it--it grows every spring in the fields outside my village." Kurapika had that look in his eyes, the one that said he was suddenly caught up in memories he didn't want to experience. "But it was never tricked into blooming early; it only came after the last winter storm. The children used to run around the fields looking for it, and whoever found it was--well, there's really no translation for the word but they were called the bringer of spring."

Kurapika's fingers hovered over the small purple bloom, like he was thinking about plucking it. "If you rub this across your skin, the color and scent will linger. The first child to find it would rub the flowers across the backs of their hands to prove they found it, and then the other children would carry them back to the village to tell everyone spring had... and there would be a... celebration." Kurapika was nearly whispering now, and each of the three silently reacted to the ache in his voice, and eyes.

After a brief silence, Kurapika pulled his hand back from the flower. "I am the first of my tribe to find it this year," he observed in a flat tone. "But there is no one to bring spring to."

There was another silence. Gon and Killua looked mutely down at the other two--Gon mute because he could imagine Kurapika's pain so deeply he didn't have words for it, and Killua mute because while he regretted Kurapika's pain he had no comprehension of it, and so didn't know what to say.

The silence was broken by the surprisingly loud _snap_ of a resilient flower's stem breaking in half. Kurapika started from his reverie to find Leorio kneeling next to him, holding Kurapika's hand in one of his own and the flower in the other. "Damned idiot," he muttered as he began briskly rubbing the color and scent onto the back of Kurapika's hand. "Doesn't have a soul in the world to celebrate with. Nobody to bring spring to, hah. Gon, Killua, are you hearing this? We're nobody."

Gon suppressed a giggle. The expression on Kurapika's face was difficult not to laugh at. He was staring at Leorio in astonishment, apparently struck dumb by his audacity in so nonchalantly plucking the flower Kurapika had been agonizing over. Limply, Kurapika let Leorio begin rubbing color onto his other hand. Leorio was still muttering in high pique. "Most unbearable idiot in the world. Who does he think we are, anyway? Clearly not worth celebrating with."

"Leorio--"

Leorio cut Kurapika off with a Look. Brushing the remains of the plant off his hands, he stood and asked, "Okay, what happened after that?"

Kurapika still looked off-guard. "There would be a celebration," he answered rather pointlessly, also rising.

Leorio tapped his foot impatiently. "What sort of celebration?"

"The other children carried the bringer of spring to the center of the village, and the elder would make a speech about the end of winter," Kurapika replied. "And then there would be feasting and dancing. It's not much, really, but it was... nice."

"Okay." Without further preamble, Leorio grabbed Kurapika and lifted him into his arms.

Kurapika's paralysis finally broke, and broke spectacularly. "Leorio!!" A few furious scuffles later Kurapika was kneeling on the ground and Leorio was bent over wheezing, apparently in pain. "What are doing?!" Kurapika's voice was a lesson in outrage.

"Carrying you--to the center of town," Leorio managed to pant. "You're the first--Kuruta to--find the flowers."

"I'm the _only_ Kuruta," Kurapika pointed out angrily.

Leorio straightened up again, and Kurapika also stood, watching him warily. "That makes me pretty sure that you're the first." Leorio gave Kurapika his most rakish grin. "Now--do you go quietly or do I have to truss you up?"

A few minutes later found Gon and Killua standing as out of the way as they could manage, backs pressed against the wall, watching the fighting with wide eyes. "Maybe we should step in?" Killua wondered. "Leorio's going to get killed."

"No, he's making Kurapika smile," Gon replied. "This is a good thing." Killua shrugged.

Leorio managed a move that let him toss Kurapika over one shoulder, and furthermore made it about three steps before crumpling over in pain as the extremely indignant Kurapika escaped. "Oi, Gon, Killua, why aren't you helping me with this?" Leorio groused. "You should be carrying him into the city on your shoulders like a parade or something."

Gon's face showed immediately that he liked this idea. "Did the children do that, Kurapika?"

"...Well..."

"Hah! They did!" Leorio was triumphant.

Kurapika looked from Leorio's renewed, extra-rakish grin, to Gon's genuine smile, to Killua's evil smirk, and took off running in the opposite direction.

They caught him quickly. Leorio then appointed himself grand marshal and led the other three onwards, Killua and Gon struggling the whole time to keep the madly squirming Kurapika from making contact with the ground. At one point Killua suggested, apparently in earnest, that they tie him to a pole and carry him between them, but Gon pointed out that it would hardly be celebratory. The parade lasted a long time, largely because the grand marshal kept getting lost and led them on a tour of the bay and two rather slummy districts before orienting himself. Gon and Killua were too busy containing their unwilling cargo to help navigate, and the cargo himself was routinely ignored when he pointed out they were going in circles.

Eventually Kurapika gave up on both directions and escape--Leorio had finally found the more populated areas and the more he squirmed, the harder people looked--and resigned himself. The parade finally ended a little while later at a city block-turned-garden that could count as roughly the center of the downtown area. Everyone but Leorio immediately collapsed at the base of a nearly statue, exhausted from either attempting or preventing escape. "Well, that was interesting," Kurapika commented, in a tone implying _thank god it's over now._

Leorio looked down at him with a mischievous and almost predatory expression; Kurapika paled slightly. "Ah, but we've only just started," Leorio said grandly. "The speech came next, I believe?"

"You're determined to milk this for every drop of humiliation you--"

"Hey, hey, we're celebrating with you!"

"Give the speech, Kurapika," Killua advised. "I'll shut him up faster."

"Kurapika can't give the speech, he's the bringer of spring," Gon objected.

Killua gave him a _shut up so we can get through this_ glare. "But he's the oldest member of his tribe, so he gives the speech!"

"But he's celebrating with _us_," Leorio cut in. "With our group. And I believe _I_ am the eldest of this tribe."

Kurapika covered his face with his hands.

"Okay!" Leorio sprang to the base of the statue and struck a pose. Then he paused, apparently thinking. "Dearly beloved--"

"No, that's how you start a wedding!" Gon objected. Beneath his hands, Kurapika was quickly turning bright red.

"Okay, uh--hmm... friends, Romans, countrymen? No, that won't do. Assassins, boys with strange attachments to fishing rods, and cute yet seriously annoying blonds, lend me your ears! Today is the monumental occasion of the return of spring to the land. Never mind that it's been warm for nearly two weeks, today Kurapika found the flowers and if he hadn't found them we would all be wallowing in winter for months to come, I tell you!"

By this point, the other three were all laughing--even Kurapika couldn't help it. Leorio's tone was as loud and overbearing as the worst of all over actors, and he kept taking ridiculously pompous poses to match his voice. They were attracting a great many strange looks. "So--uh, Kurapika, we don't have to worship you or anything, do we?" Kurapika shook his head, still hiding behind his hands and laughing. "Okay. No worship." Leorio gave Killua and Gon a stern look, like it had been their suggestion. "But still, show some respect, you two! No more carting the bringer of spring around like a sack of potatoes!"

Gon and Killua both began protesting that it had been Leorio's suggestion, but he cut over their voices. "Now, now, don't argue with the village elder. Or I'll have you burned at the stake. Back to the business of celebrating spring! We have to..." Leorio's face fell comically as he tried to remember what was supposed to come next; he looked to Kurapika for a prompt, but Kurapika was innocently and resolutely mute. "We need to... uh... something about food--ah, feasting and dancing!" He grinned triumphantly. "Yes, we must have feasting and dancing to celebrate this joyous event. Come, all ye villagers, to--uh--to wherever it is we're going out to dinner tonight, and rejoice. There."

Leorio hopped down from the base of the statue, looking pleased with himself. Gon applauded, and Killua snorted. "That was more terrible than I thought you could make it."

But Leorio paid no attention to either of them; he was watching Kurapika. It took a few speech-free moments before Kurapika deemed it safe to peek out from behind his hands. "Are you done?"

"With my speech? Yeah. What did you think?"

"You hear that far off rustling, thumping noise? It's my people rolling over in their graves."

"It wasn't _that_ bad."

"Yes, it was," Kurapika and Killua said in unison.

"No appreciation at all. I'll have the kids carry you around again," Leorio said warningly.

"But we already came to the center of the village," Kurapika pointed out suavely. "If you're trying to recreate my people's celebration, the feast comes next."

"Dinner?" Gon asked, perking up. Killua looked suddenly attentive too.

"Dinner," Leorio agreed. "And I'll even pay for you, Kurapika, so it's a celebration, but not for you two bottomless holes... hey, Kurapika, should we carry you to the restaurant, just for good measure?"

"Do you really want to die this badly?"


	2. Chapter 2

Part Two

"Unbelievable! Now he and Gon are dancing. And he had the nerve to make fun of me for asking you!"

Kurapika glanced over his shoulder. He supposed one could call what Gon and Killua were doing dancing, if one was in a generous mood. They were so enthused about it that everyone in the vicinity was giving them a wide berth to avoid being hit by a stray elbow or foot. They actually shouldn't have even been in this club, being underage, but Hunter licenses and intimidating expressions could work wonders.

Kurapika shrugged and turned back to Leorio. The two of them were dancing in a much calmer and more normal fashion. Kurapika had been planning on holing up in a corner once they finally arrived at a dinner club Leorio found suitable--feasting and dancing, after all, being the evening's agenda--but after awhile had given up resistance and let himself be swept along by Leorio's antics, enjoying the foolery. Leorio had been most adamant that the bringer of spring had to dance, or the whole celebration would need to be redone. Killua'd had much to say on the subject.

"You know Killua's not really teasing you," Kurapika commented, giving the younger two another glance.

"What else do you call that?! He was snickering and saying I should just take you back to the hotel and--"

"Oh Leorio, isn't it obvious?" Kurapika interrupted impatiently, turning his full attention back to him. "Irritating you is just a bonus right now. What Killua really wants is to see how Gon reacts to the thought of two men being together."

That distracted Leorio from his indignation. "Gon?" He looked at Kurapika appraisingly.

Kurapika shrugged. "Well, what do you expect? They're sixteen. And their attachment to each other hasn't lessened over the years; if anything, I'd say it's gotten stronger. It's sort of inevitable at this point." Thoughtfully, he added, "It's a shame that Gon's the bold one, because he still seems clueless and I think Killua's starting to pine for him. But I'm sure Gon will catch up to him soon."

Leorio was momentarily speechless at this concise summation of his friends' relationship. He looked over Kurapika's shoulder, watching them, clearly deep in thought.

Kurapika let him think. He had his own thinking to do, about the day's events and about something he had to say that he really, truly, wished he didn't have to. Most of the time he managed to get along with Leorio on the basis of teasing and irritation and competitiveness, and it was so much _easier_ that way than acknowledging the deeper feelings that were so rarely spoken of. Having to say something sincere made it--harder. Harder to ignore. He hoped he could get through it quickly.

"I think you're right," Leorio said suddenly, effectively derailing Kurapika's train of thought. He gave Gon and Killua one more look, and then snickered. "Oh, am I ever going to get back at Killua..."

"Don't," Kurapika said sharply. "Don't make it any harder on him."

"But he made fun of me!"

"The number of things you've done today that can be made fun of, Leorio, and you're complaining that he did so once?"

Leorio wilted slightly, and didn't answer. It made Kurapika furious that he felt guilty. _Just say it and get it over with_, he told himself furiously. "Leorio?"

Leorio blinked at the sudden uncertainty in Kurapika's voice. "Hm?"

"Ah--" Kurapika looked away and lowered his voice slightly, but he knew it was still loud enough to be clear to Leorio. "Thank you."

Leorio didn't say anything. Kurapika glanced back and found himself the subject of an intent and inquiring look. He shrugged awkwardly. "What you--I mean, today was--nice," he admitted softly. He looked away again quickly, fully aware he was blushing and wishing dancing was more difficult so he could justify focusing more of his attention on it. "I've never--I haven't celebrated anything since my people died. And even though you were acting like an idiot and embarrassing me I know you were doing it to make me laugh and I--appreciate it." _Not good enough--tell him what you're thinking._ "I think," Kurapika added quietly, determinedly looking elsewhere, "that it might be the most anyone's ever gone out of their way to be nice to me."

Kurapika could feel how intently Leorio was looking at him, but didn't look back. "Are you trying to say," Leorio said after a long pause, sounding amused at Kurapika's predicament, "that it's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for you?"

So cliché--but something only became cliché if it held an element of truth. "Yes, I am," Kurapika said defiantly, finally meeting Leorio's eyes and daring him to laugh.

Leorio seemed torn between glee at Kurapika's embarrassment and sincere emotion in response to his statement. He didn't speak. The tension mounted until Kurapika found himself speaking rapidly to cut through it. "I mean, you really ran with it. I was fighting you the whole time and you didn't have to do it or anything but you kept going, and it's not something most people would have done, and I know I have a temper and it took guts to do it and to _keep_ doing it and--"

Leorio laid a finger over Kurapika's lips in a "hush" gesture; Kurapika blinked. "You're welcome," Leorio said simply.

Kurapika continued blinking at him. "You spend so much time sad," Leorio elaborated. His tone was both gentler and more genuine than Kurapika usually heard it. "I thought it might make you happy."

And that was that. The boy had jumped through seventeen kinds of hoops and made idiots out of all of them on the off chance it would make him happy. Kurapika looked at him wordlessly. It was Leorio's turn to flush. "Can I say something serious?" he asked awkwardly.

Kurapika nodded. Leorio fidgeted for a moment, readjusting his glasses and his tie, before taking a breath and looking Kurapika straight in the eye. "It's just--I've been thinking about it. And--well, from the moment I met you you've been focused on revenge. On killing for your people. I just wondered if you ever considered living for them instead."

Kurapika stared at him blankly. Leorio seemed to be bracing himself for some sort of explosion of temper. He was not prepared for it when Kurapika suddenly moved forward and kissed him.

Leorio came up from the kiss spluttering and wearing an expression of extreme bewilderment. The bewilderment only increased when Kurapika's first words were a fierce, "I hate you." Kurapika's fingers were digging so deeply into his shoulders that he might, indeed, have been trying to kill him. "I really do," Kurapika continued, his voice full of emotion. "You pretend to be stupid and you act so irritating and immature and then you just _say _things like that to me and--"

Kurapika could not find the words to continue explaining Leorio's offenses, so he kissed him again, more fiercely. Leorio was better prepared for the second kiss and thus able to return it with enough intensity to make up for his shock during the first one. In fact, he returned it with so much intensity that they stopped dancing, and had begun garnering stares before they were able to pull back from each other long enough to agree it was time to get off the dance floor.

* * *

"Ow! Gon, that was my foot!"

Gon was staring over Killua's shoulder, a wondering expression on his face. "Leorio and Kurapika are kissing," he noted.

Killua whipped his head around. Leorio and Kurapika were indeed kissing. Rather deeply. And intensely. Killua was surprised by own reaction: envy. Envy, sweeping through his body and then settling painfully in the pit of his stomach.

Gon laughed. Killua looked back at him, again so fast he might have gotten whiplash. "I'm happy for them," Gon explained simply, smiling.

"You think Kurapika's drunk?" Killua offered, trying to make light of things.

"No," Gon said, with the kind of amused affection Killua had recently noticed him using when he thought Killua was being cute or clueless. Privately, Killua thought Gon had no business ever thinking of anyone else as cute or clueless. "I think they've always liked each other a lot. I'm glad they're letting themselves do something about it."

"Do they have to do something about it in front of us?"

"They're going outside," Gon said, with a nod over Killua's shoulder. "And anyway, why does it bother you?"

CaughtTime for evasion."I guess it doesn't. I just like making fun of them."

Gon smiled. "I know. You're happy for them too, right?"

"Right," Killua said vaguely.

They subsided into silence after that--comfortable silence, for they had spent long enough in each other's company that they didn't really need to talk. Killua was suffering a mild state of shock. Of course he'd been aware of Kurapika and Leorio's attraction to each other--if he'd been unobservant enough to not notice something that obvious, he would have been dead long ago--but he had never thought they would act on it. And thinking that had given him a sense of security. Or perhaps justification was a better word. If those two, who were older and more experienced, couldn't manage to admit their attraction, then it was alright for Killua and Gon to stay the way they were. The way they'd always been. After all, Killua could remember when he hadn't harbored these kinds of feelings, so maybe it was supposed to be that way... of course, he had been twelve...

It wasn't just the status quo that made Killua reluctant to act. Part of him knew that Gon would never leave him, over anything--that had been proven over the years. But another part, that spoke in voices other than his own, knew with equal certainty that he did not deserve Gon's friendship. Making anything past friendship a moot point.

And yet... it was a silly thing to push it over the edge... but he couldn't cope with the thought of being less brave than Leorio. _Leorio_, of all people.

"Killua? Are you alright?"

Killua looked at Gon contemplatively. Gon looked back, radiating anxiety--apparently Killua was radiating "I Am Having Deep Thoughts" just as strongly. _Caution's never gotten you anything worth having,_ Killua reminded himself. "Gon?"

"Yeah?" Gon looked even more anxious; Killua's voice had come out as an uncertain squeak.

Killua cleared his throat, trying to get a handle on his vocal chords. "Ah..." Gon just kept looking at him, eyes wide. "Ah... wanna try something?"

"Okay."

He didn't ask what it was--was that trust, or concern? Killua cleared his throat again. "I... I want to, ah..."

Gon looked at him expectantly, raising his eyebrows slightly. But the vocal chords Killua had been trying to reign in suddenly failed him completely; he couldn't even get air through his throat, much less shape it into words. Was there any way to back out now? _Coward_.

Killua had learned, over the years, a technique for stopping his thought processes completely when he was about to do something unsavory, so he wouldn't have to live through it. He took advantage of that technique now, not because the task ahead was unpleasant but because he knew he didn't have the guts. He stopped thinking, leaned forward, and kissed Gon, not particularly tentatively.

Gon kissed him back. Simply, and gently--there was no hesitation to it, but neither was there the bubbling over passion of someone who's been pleasantly surprised. Like they had kissed every day of their lives. Killua pulled back and looked at him, still as frightened as he'd ever been, and Gon regarded him with the same mildly inquisitive look he'd had before they kissed.

Killua waited. And waited. Until he grew angry. "Well?" he finally demanded.

"Well what?"

The genuine puzzlement with which he said that was unfathomable. "...I just kissed you!"

"Uh-huh." Gon continued to look at him curiously.

"Well?!"

Gon gave a faint, apologetic smile. "Well what?"

How was it possible to go so quickly from wanting to kiss someone to wanting to kill them? "Did you like it?"

"Of course," Gon replied promptly.

"What do you mean of course?" Killua demanded, thrown by his nonchalance. "We never did that before, how would you know if you were going to like it or not?"

Gon looked even more confused than before. "But it's you."

"So?"

"So I knew it would feel good," Gon explained. "Anything I do with you always feels right."

Killua was momentarily speechless. Gon cocked his head to one side. "Didn't you--didn't you know?" he asked, calmly. "Don't you feel that way about me? You can always touch me, Killua, if you want to. After all, you'll be the only person I touch that way my whole life, won't you? Unless one of us dies really early or something, but if we got killed we'd probably get killed together, don't you think?"

It all sounded so reasonable when he said it. Killua wanted to hit him. But he wanted to kiss him more, so he tried that again. Gon kissed back the same way he had before, and then smiled at him. "The only bad thing is your timing," he noted.

"Why?"

"Because we saw Leorio and Kurapika kissing, and then we started kissing. They're going to think we're copying them."

Killua stared at Gon. It was hard to remember sometimes how clueless he could really be. But then, Killua's trademark smirk began to form. "Well, why not? They should be ashamed of themselves, dragging innocent youngsters like us into an adult club and then setting such a bad example for us. We should go find out what they're doing now and keep copying them, just to show them."

Gon looked torn between mischief and conscience. "But..."

"C'mon." Killua was quite practiced at cutting off Gon's conscience. He grabbed Gon's hand and dragged him to the door he had seen Kurapika and Leorio exit by. They would be easy to track--Leorio wore a distinctive cologne, and too much of it.

He didn't have to track very far. A few minutes later he and Gon were stumbling back into the club, wide eyed and a bit shell-shocked. They made it safely inside and leaned against the wall for a moment. It was Gon who broke the silence, his voice weak. "Killua... we don't have to... do we? Not yet?"

"No. No, we're not... no."

"They--"

"Yeah."

"I mean, I guess I knew Leorio was pretty strong, but I didn't know Kurapika was so--"

"Flexible?"

"That's a good way to put it."

"Let's just go back and dance."

"Yeah."

fin


End file.
